Jason Aldean says Miranda Lambert was on the fence about the first song he proposed for their duet on his new Rearview Town album, but he didn't give up.

The "You Make It Easy" singer really wanted the reigning ACM Female Vocalist of the Year on his new album. They're friends, having come up in the music business at the same time and from touring together through the years.

"I’ve always been a fan of her voice, and I’ve always said if I was a female singer that’s the kind of stuff I would do," he tells Taste of Country. "She’s a rocker, but can also be like really country. Really well-rounded."

Hoping to create something more memorable than "Grown Woman," an album cut on Aldean's Relentless album (2007) that featured Lambert's harmonies, he pitched her on a second song, "Drowns the Whiskey," a traditional country ballad that aches just like you'd expect.

"When I sent her that one, she kind of flipped out. She was on board then. And then she came in to sing it and nailed it," he recalls.

"Drowns the Whiskey" is an old-school-style country weeper, which Aldean says Lambert can do as well as anyone. "And our voices blend really well together," he adds.

"Whiskey's supposed to drown the memory / I've gone from one to one too many / And the thing that really gets me / Is how your memory drowns the whiskey," he sings with Lambert harmonizing through much of the chorus.

Aldean says the song is one of his favorites on Rearview Town. The 2018 WE Fest headliner stresses that it's important for him to not only have traditional country songs on each record, but songs with lyrical weight. As he gets older, that's even more important. Songs like this and "Better at Being Who I Am" fit the description.